This Is Why People Are Electing Socialists

Senator Baumgartner is upset (or pretending to be upset?) that Jay Inslee hasn’t made Washington a right to work state. It takes a lot in some of these metacommentary pieces to not just write “fuck you” after every paragraph, but instead try to come up with jokes and actual commentary. This may be one of those times where I just give into the urge.

State Sen. Michael Baumgartner today responded to Gov. Jay Inslee’s refusal to act on his call to begin moving Washington toward becoming a right-to-work state – a move that many believe will make Washington more attractive to employers, including Boeing.

Fuck you. No. I have to do more commentary. Fuck you and your corporate apologist shit. Fuck you and your anti-worker horse shit. If Boeing or Microsoft asked you to give them a blumpkin (yes, the entire company, don’t ask about the logistics, you pervert), you would probably not only do it but demand that Governor Inslee watch. Then write a whiny press release complaining when he didn’t.

According to media reports, the spokesperson for the governor told reporters a special session for right-to-work “is not going to happen.” Baumgartner, R-Spokane, and a member of the Senate Trade and Economic Development Committee, released this response:

Fuck you! Sorry, I really have to do more commentary here. Did you really think that Jay Inslee was just going to decide to fuck over unions because one of the biggest assholes in the Senate GOP caucus (and holy shit are there a lot of gigantic assholes) wrote a whiny bit of nonsense? And in a special session?

Also, he block quotes the rest of his response but since it’s in a press release, I’m not playing along with a double block quote.

“I am disappointed that the governor is not willing to engage in this effort to save Boeing jobs and attract other employers to our state, but frankly I am not surprised. This governor has shown a persistent lack of leadership when it comes to making Washington a more attractive state for employers to locate and create new jobs.

Fuck you. No — wait — here’s some more sarcasm. Yeah, that’s the fucking problem: that Jay Inslee was not friendly enough to Boeing. That Jay Inslee who just pushed the largest piece of corporate welfare in history through the legislature and is pushing for more in the form of a transit package for Boeing. That Jay inslee “has shown a persistent lack of leadership when it comes to making Washington a more attractive state for employers to locate and create new jobs”? And when, as day follows night, we’re inevitably ranked among the best states to do business, I’m sure governor Inslee won’t get any congratulations from Baumgartner.

“While he was willing to call the Legislature back to pass a series of incentives for Boeing, he repeatedly refused to urge union members to support the contract. On November 9, Governor Inslee met with the media after the adjournment of the legislative special session. He was once again given multiple opportunities to encourage machinists to accept the contract. One reporter specifically asked, ‘Are you saying that you’re ok if the machinists decide to reject the contract?’ The governor responded by calling the vote ‘an individual decision,’ once again refusing to show any level of true leadership to protect thousands of family-wage jobs in our state.

I don’t think the governor should be negotiating private sector contracts. Also, Boeing is trying to make them no longer family wage jobs. That’s the fucking point. That’s what unions do. Those jobs don’t become family-wage jobs out of the benevolence of gigantic corporations. They become them because those corporations are made to provide good wages by unions and by governments. Also, Fuck you.

“So now Washington must compete for these jobs and the governor is once again failing to lead. While Governor Inslee is off in China, rejecting my right-to-work proposal through a spokesperson, other governors are wasting no time courting Boeing and making the case that their business climate is superior to Washington’s. Within hours of learning of the machinists’ vote, Texas Governor Rick Perry tweeted, ‘Texas is a right-to-work state w/low taxes, smart regulations & skilled workers – perfect for @Boeing 777x manufacturing!’

Fuck you. Be more like Texas? Texas doesn’t have the skilled workers. Nobody outside the Puget Sound does, and if Boeing wants to start from scratch, they’ll have the same delays the South Carolina plant has had. Or hey, maybe Boeing can build a new plant next to another unregulated Texas fertilizer plant.

Also, the tax system here has been rigged by Boeing for decades, so Texas really can’t offer them better taxes. And for real, I love the implication that Jay Inslee is just fucking around in China. Like it isn’t a trade mission that will probably end up helping Boeing sell planes.

“Lawmakers in Utah, South Carolina and Alabama were making the case for their states, and Boeing representatives were on the ground or on the phone, in talks with these states the very next morning after the vote. Our aerospace workers are the best in the world, and they deserve to have a governor who is doing everything in his power to protect their jobs. Unfortunately that is not the case with Governor Inslee.

All of the fuck yous. Every single one. And frankly that probably isn’t enough. Also, who do you think the union that rejected Boeing’s shitty deal is made up of? Is it possible that they want good aerospace manufacturing jobs in the region more than you?

“The governor has a sign in his office that says ‘we can do hard things,’ yet he has never been willing to do the hard thing and stand up to his donors in organized labor, even if it has meant potentially costing Washingtonians jobs.

Fuck you. Maybe have a discussion about standing up to Boeing and other large corporate interests in this state for once?

“While his predecessor, Governor Gregoire, was willing to work in a bipartisan manner to achieve key reforms to unemployment insurance, he has refused to take on the unions when it comes to addressing our state’s out-of-control workers’ compensation costs. He has also failed to stand up to his friends in the environmental movement to provide a more reasonable permitting and regulatory climate for employers.

Fuck you. Governor Gregoire fucked over workers but it’s never enough is it? Always we need to do more and more and more and more to fuck over workers. And hey, why don’t we let people pollute more as long as we’re at it?

“Making Washington a right-to-work state is not a silver bullet that will solve all of our business climate concerns, but it is one of the concrete steps we can take to put Washington on a more even playing field with the twenty-four right-to-work states competing for these high-wage jobs. Perhaps just as important, it is also the right thing to do. Every individual should have a right to decide for him or herself whether or not to join a union and pay union dues.

Fuck you. Right to work makes the jobs less good. That’s literally the main point of them. That’s what makes them so attractive to business interests. Stop fucking using phrases like “high-wage jobs” when talking about them since the point of the proposed legislation is to lower wages. Also, fuck you and your scab propaganda. The right thing to do?

“This is about making Washington competitive, not about being anti-union. As the son of educators, I have a strong appreciation for the role unions play in our society. This is about competing for jobs and respecting the rights of workers. There is perhaps no state more associated with unions than Michigan, but on March 28 of this year, Michigan became a right-to-work state. Lawmakers there weren’t trying to attack unions; they were trying to revive the manufacturing base of their state.

Fuck you. You literally demanded that the governor “take on the unions” like 4 paragraphs before you said your plan is “not about being anti-union.” Pick one, or at least take the time away from snugglepupping Boeing for long enough to proof read your own goddamn press releases.

“Passing a right-to-work law here in Washington will be a challenge, but if they can do it in Michigan, we owe to our state’s workers, and those looking for work, to make the effort here. The governor claims he wants to do ‘hard things,’ well here’s his chance. It may be hard work, but we need to give Boeing, and all of our employers, an environment conducive to growth and job-creation, and making Washington a right-to-work state is the key step to reaching that goal.”

If Michiganders jumped off a bridge would you? I mean obviously, yes, if an executive from a big company asked him to.

The aristocratic class and its trans-national corporations will always have their toadies and mouthpieces. The Republicans are merely the current holders of that indefensible position. Even Texans will eventually decide that lives spent in peonage in order to amass further obscene wealth to their masters unacceptable. The conservative tea party mindset East of the Cascades keeps that part of the state poor and irrelevant.

Right to work (for race-to-the-bottom wages) is a political cancer endemic the old slave states where an economically and socially stratified society is the ideal. They know nothing better.

I’ve visited a couple of “factories” in Texas. They were merely distribution centers, with the actual assembly being outsourced to Mexican factories along the border.

You get what you pay for. The items didn’t even get inspected before being sent onward to Boeing. Experienced Manufacturing Electritions discovered the problems – aluminum wiring, wiring bundles not having anything to do with the blueprints (“and the green wires go where?” After trying to ignore it, they ended up stripping all the old wiring off the airplane, and set up a “wire shop” on the factory floor alongside the 787’s with the former wire shop employees making them from scratch.

In the meantime, Boeing management is bring in 787’s from Everett to Charleston so it can say it “delivered” a Charleston 787.

Inslee and the state Democrats roll over and play dead for Boeing and it’s still not enough for some people.

Pork Barrel Patty says she will try to facilitate a dialogue between Boeing and the union. Gee, thanks. I guess it’s too much for Patty to actually lean on Boeing (a few hints about future defense contracts maybe?) and act like she cares. Maria Cantwell, as usual, is missing in (in)action.

I’m sure your opposition to that sort of language stopped you from voting for Baumgartner (SR link) in the first place. You know, typical leftist stereotype that one, or whatever. Anyway, I’ll defend my use of that language: it was done in a fun, artful way. It was combined with serious analysis and, oddly enough, flapper slang. The point, though, is that no matter how much I swear, it’s less bad than proposing making Washington a right to work state.

9. PURLIE :) So much for Stereotypes the rightwingers want you to believe :)) On August 22, 2012 Gop Senate Candidate Michael Baumgartner says he is not sorry for telling reporter to “f**k off”

Refresh your Republican brain washed mind Republican hopeful Michael Baumgartner acknowledged to the Associated Press he sent an email directive to reporter Josh Feit of the Seattle political blog PubliCola following an interview about Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin. A written statement from Baumgartner’s campaign indicated he sent it out of frustration that more media attention was being given to Akin’s controversial rape comments instead of Baumgartner’s platform of ending the war in Afghanistan.

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